Fort Amsterdam in the days of the Dutch

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Ifort Hmsteti^am

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Half Moon Series

Published in the Interest of the New York
City History Club.

Volume I. Number VIII.

239

FORT AMSTERDAM IN THE DAYS OF
THE DUTCH.

By maud wilder GOODWIN.

IN the autumn of 1626, the good ship Arms
of Amsterdam sailed away to Holland
bearing tidings of the tiny Dutch colony at
the "Manhattes," which it left in a thriving
condition. The report, forwarded to the
West India Company, pictured the settlers as
already making comfortable dwellings for
themselves. Thirty log-houses, with roofs
made from the bark of trees, huddled close to-
gether at the end of the island. The counting-
house boasted walls of stone and a thafched
roof, and Francois Molemaecker was building
a mill with two stories, of which the upper
one was to form a spacious room large enough
to serve as a meeting-place for almost the en-
tire colony, and the mill was to be still further

Copyright, 1897, by Maud Wilder Goodwin.

ConMtlon

of

Colonie

1626

240

fovt Hmster^am

planning

of Jfort

1626

adorned by a tower wherein should be hung
bells brought hither from Porto Rico.

In those days no settlement was complete
without a fortification, and the first care of the
colonists was to build a fort which should
prove both a protection and a refuge from
their enemies. As they had paid the natives
for their land, it was not so much the Indians
whom they feared, as other Europeans, covet-
ous, like themselves, of possessions in the
New World.

After much discussion as to the position of
this fort, the settlers finally decided to place
it boldly at the very point of the island where
their flag of orange and blue might wave defi-
ance to any alien vessel seeking to penetrate
Hudson's River, or any adventurer aiming to
appropriate the territory of the Dutch West
India Company.

The green-turfed land which forms the end
of Manhattan Island to-day was then under
water at high tide, and the Capske, a sharp
ledge of rock dividing the North and East
rivers, terminated a little south of State Street.
On the slope of land to the north of this, the
site of the fort was laid on the ground now
marked by a row of steamship offices at the
foot of Bowling Green.

The engineer who superintended the build-
ing of this early fortification was named Kryn
Fredericksen. He found material scarce, and

ifort Hmster&am

241

labor in such demand for house-building, that
he could plan only for a blockhouse, encircled
by palisadoes built of red cedar, and sodded
earthworks.

While this rude structure was in process of
erection, an episode having serious conse-
quences occurred. A friendly Indian of the
Weckquaeskeeck tribe, who inhabited what
is now Westchester County, came with his
nephew to trade at the Dutch village. Three
servants belonging to Peter Minuit, then
Director of the colony, fell upon the Indian,
robbed him of his wares and finally murdered
him. The nephew escaped, and returned to
his tribe vowing vengeance, which he wreaked
to his full satisfaction nearly twenty years later.

Except for this ominous episode, the up-
building of the little town went forward pros-
perously. The new fortification was completed
and christened Fort Amsterdam and the ham-
let nestling under its protection was declared
the capital of New Netherland.

The relations between the Dutch settlers
and their colonial neighbors were now, as
always, uncertain, and ready at any time on
slight provocation to break out into open war-
fare. In 1627, there was some threat of diffi-
culty with the English concerning the right of
trading with the Indians ; but it ended ami-
cably. Governor Bradford of Massachusetts
received from Director Minuit of New Nether-

IBlOCka

bouse 3Built
1626

242

3Fort Hmstert>am

Ubreat of

TOlar

wttb tbe

TBnglisb

1627

land "a rundlet of sugar and two Holland
cheese," and the nations whom the governors
represented continued at peace. This experi-
ence, however, impressed upon the settlers
at New Amsterdam the necessity of strength-
ening the very primitive defences which were
their only reliance in case of war, and, ac-
cordingly, in the year 1633, Wouter van
Twiller, who had succeeded Minuit as Di-
rector, ordered the construction of a fort more
nearly adequate to the needs of the settlers.

So substantial was this fort that two years
passed before its completion. Its shape was
a quadrangle with a bastion at each corner.
The northwest bastion was faced with "good
quarry stone," and the earthworks were thor-
oughly repaired by negroes in the employ of
the Dutch West India Company, under the
superintendence of Jacob Stoffelsen.

Within the enclosure stood three wind-
mills, a guardhouse and barracks, besides the
"big house " built by Van Twiller for his own
occupancy. The fort itself was not very ex-
tensive according to modern ideas. It meas-
ured only some three hundred feet in length
by two hundred and fifty in breadth, yet the
cost of completing it (including probably the
buildings within) was 4172 guilders, or be-
tween sixteen and seventeen hundred dollars.
One of the buildings in the enclosure soon
came to an untimely end. A man named

3fort HmsterDam

243

Van Vorst undertook to fire a salute in honor
of the Director-General from a stone gun
which stood near the house. A spark from
the wadding lodged on the roof, which, being
covered with reed, caught fire at once, and
the whole building was destroyed in less than
half an hour.

The old fort witnessed scenes of jollity in
those early days. On one occasion, the first
gunner held a festivity at one of the angles of
the fort, where a tent had been erected and
tables set out. In the midst of the feasting, a
trumpeter blew a sudden blast upon his
trumpet, much to the alarm of the revellers.
The Coopman of Cargoes and the Coopman
of Stores ' were so wrathful, that, they called
the trumpeter hard names, and he in return
administered to each a sound thrashing, which
put an end to the merry evening.

Van Twiller's control over the colony
lasted only a short time after the completion
of the fort. In March, 1638, Kieft arrived to
take the reins of government from his hand.
Kieft found the defences in a ruinous state.
The fort, finished only three years before, was
in a shameful condition of disrepair ; the
guns dismounted, the public buildings within
the walls in ruins. Of the three windmills
only one was in operation, and the walls of

' " Coopman of Cargoes " i.e., supercargo of a ship, and
" Coopman of Stores" store-keeper.

Brrival of
■Rieft
1638

244

ifort Hmster&am

Uroubles
witb

Vntiiane
1641

the fort were so beaten down that any might
come in or go out at their will "save at the
stone point."

This state of things was the more unfortun-
ate inasmuch as Director Kieft's injudicious
belligerency soon plunged the colony into a
series of quarrels with the natives. Under
orders from Holland, as he declared, Kieft
undertook to lay a tax upon the Indians, who
expressed their wrath in vehement protest
against "the Sakema of the Fort." He was
but a mean fellow, they declared. He had not
invited them to come and live here that he
should now lay claim to the corn which they
had planted.

So violent did this feeling become that Kieft
found it necessary to order every inhabitant to
provide himself with a gun, and warned the set-
tlers that, in case of a night attack, at a precon-
certed signal of three cannon shots they were
to appear armed at the fort in military order.

The position of the settlers on outlying
"bouweries" grew more and more perilous.
Massacres were reported from Staten Island,
massacres often too cruelly avenged by the
Dutch, who grew more and more blood-thirsty
and greedy for plunder. One day in the
summer of 1641, word was brought to the
fort of the murder of Claes, "the Raadmaker"
(in English, wheelwright) living on the west
shore of the river. The old man, so the story

jfort Bmster^am

245

ran, had received a visit from a young Indian,
who had been in the habit of working for the
son of Claes and who came to the house
professedly to purchase cloth. Claes hospit-
ably set food before him and then went to
a chest, wherein the cloth was kept. As the
Raadmaker stooped, the savage struck him
dead with an axe.

This story naturally filled the settlers with
horror, nor was their rage diminished by learn-
ing that the murderer was no other than the
nephew of the Weckquaeskeeck Indian, who
had met with foul play at the hands of
Director Minuit's servants twenty years before.
On receiving the news of the Raadmaker's
murder, Kieft sent at once to the Chief of the
Weckquaeskeeck tribe demanding the surren-
der of the murderer ; but the Sachem
haughtily replied that he wished the young
warrior had slain twenty Christians instead of
one and that he had justly carried out the
traditions of his race in avenging the murder
of his relative. This answer roused the
Director to a state of frenzy. He determined
to call a council of war to authorize him in
proceeding against the contumacious Indians.
On the 28th day of August, 1641^ accordingly,
all the masters and heads of families dwelling
in or near New Amsterdam assembled in the
fort to consider the question of the punish-
ment of the Weckquaeskeecks.

il^ur^er of

tbe 1Raa9s

mahet

tetl

246

jfoct Hmstert)am

jrfrBt

Httempt at

(popular

©overns

mcnt

1641

This gathering was noteworthy as the first
effort at popular government in the colony
and the burghers shrewdly made the most of
it by appointing a committee of the Twelve
Men to co-operate with the Director. Kieft
himself began to realize that he had raised
spirits which he could not lay, and bitterly re-
sented the restrictions which the Twelve
Men sought to lay upon his impetuosity. He
desired to attack the Indians at once ; but
the Twelve counselled delay and the popu-
lar will so enforced their authority, that Kieft
was compelled to yield to their judgment and
to postpone action.

It would have seemed natural, that this pe-
riod of delay should be spent in preparation
for the strife to come, in strengthening the de-
fences and arming the outposts ; but, instead,
Kieft began the erection of a series of elabor-
ate, expensive and comparatively unneccessary
buildings inside the fortification, and spent
upon them the money which should have
been laid out upon stout masonry and iron
guns. Besides the fine, stone tavern erected
among the thatched-roofed, wooden-chim-
neyed cottages huddling about Fort Amster-
dam, within the walls of the fort rose still
more substantial buildings. The most im-
posing of these was the new church, which
owed its origin, it is to be feared, less to piety
than to vanity, since, until the taunts of De

jfort HmsterDam

247

Vries called attention to "the mean barn"
which was all that the dwellers in New Am-
sterdam had to show in contrast with the well-
ordered meeting-houses of New England, the
old chapel in the village had been deemed suf-
ficient by the worshippers of the little colony.
Now, however, it was determined to erect a fine
church, which should be a credit to the whole
province of New Netherland, the expense of the
building to be borne partly by the West India
Company and partly by private subscriptions.
A contract, "done at Fort Amsterdam," and
dated May, 1642, sets forth the agreement be-
tween William Kieft, church-warden and John
and Richard Ogden, by which the Ogdens
bind themselves to build a church seventy-two
feet long, fifty-two broad and sixteen feet high
above the soil, for the sum of 2500 guilders
equal to about $1000, the price to be paid in
beaver, or other merchandise. It is stipulated
that the contractors shall procure the stone
and bring it ashore near the fort, for which
purpose they shall be allowed the use of the
Company's boat for a month or six weeks.
The church-wardens agree to convey the
stone from the shore to the fort, and to fur-
nish the lime with which to lay it. If the
work is done "in a workmanlike manner"
and to the satisfaction of the employers, the
contractors are to receive a bonus of an ad-
ditional hundred guilders.

Contract
for

a Cburcb
intbe
ifort
1642

248

jfort Hmster^am

Cburcb

Completeb

tei2

There were not wanting carping critics who
spoke of the kerck as "the fifth wheel to a
coache," objected to such a use of money,
and even doubted the wisdom of building a
new church at all, especially in the fort where,
as they pointed out, it occupied a quarter of
all available space and, moreover, by its lo-
cation would necessarily shut off the southeast
wind from the gristmill on which the settlers
depended for grinding their corn.

Director Kieft and Dominie Bogardus proved
too strong for the objectors, however, and the
church finally raised its steep double-pointed
roof above the walls of the fort. That the
building might preserve his own memory, as
well as testify to the glory of God, the Di-
rector caused to be inserted in the front a
tablet bearing the inscription :

"An. Dom—MDCXLII

" Willem Kieft, Directeur Generael

" Heeft De Gemeente Desen Tempel Doen

Bouwen." '

A century later the church was burned and
the slab buried in dirt, whence it was dug up
when the fort itself was demolished in 1789.
The slab was removed for safe-keeping to the
Dutch church in Garden Street; but on the de-

• "An Dom — 1642
[When] Willem Kieft was Director-General
The Congregation built this temple."

jfort HmsterOam

249

struction of that building by fire, the slab
commemorating Kieft and his greatness dis-
appeared forever.

Besides the ground given up to the new
church the space in the fort was further en-
croached upon by other buildings civic and
domestic rather than military in character.
The quaint windmill, with its long arms and
revolving tower, occupied one corner, and
near the Gevangen Huys or jail, stood the
Governor's house, which for that day was an
elaborate and elegant mansion, having an
"entry" twenty feet wide, and a double-
faced chimney to keep it warm. It was sur-
rounded by walks measuring ten feet in width,
and altogether must have required much
money and labor to equip and maintain. It
is not strange that there should have been
some murmuring among the thrifty burghers
over such expenditures, especially at this
crisis when matters were growing daily more
threatening, and the settlers dared scarcely
stir abroad for fear of savages.

The conduct of the colonists in general and
the Director in particular was marked at this
time by a mixture of ferocity and cowardice.
A large number of Weckquaeskeeck Indians
were massacred in cold blood by the Dutch,
after they had sued for peace and sought
shelter in the fort from their powerful enemy,
the Mohawks. Other tribes had been treated

®tbcr
fiuilMngs
(n tbe iFort

1642

250

jfort HmsterDam

General

■(In^(an

TlClarfare

16*3

with equally brutal disregard of both principle
and policy, till, at last, in 1643, the settlers
found themselves by their own folly involved in
a general Indian warfare. The only hope of the
colony on Manhattan Island now lay in the
protection afforded by Fort Amsterdam, and
its inadequacy was painfully apparent. A
Jesuit priest who travelled through New
Netherland at this time, writes thus of its
condition :

"This fort which is at the point of the island, is called
Fort Amsterdam. It has four regular bastions mounted with
several pieces of artillery. All these bastions and curtains
were in 1643 ^"t ramparts of earth most of which had
crumbled away so that the fort could be entered on all
sides. There were no ditches. There were sixty soldiers
to garrison the said fort and another which they had built
still farther up against the incursions of the savages, their
enemies. They were beginning to face the gates and
bastions with stone."

In October, 1643, the Eight Men who had
succeeded the Twelve as representatives of
the colony, wrote home to the "Honorable,
Wise, Prudent Gentlemen of the XIX. of
the General Incorporated West India Com-
pany, Department of Amsterdam," com-
plaining bitterly of the harrying they were
undergoing at the hands of the allied Indians,
who having sent their old men, women and
children into the interior, were in excellent
fighting condition. "The most expert war-
riors," the complaint says, "hang daily on

jfort BmsterDam

251

our necks with fire and sword, and threaten
to attack the fort with all their force of about
fifteen hundred men. This we hourly expect."
The only place of shelter the letter declares to
be Fort Amsterdam, and this so poorly sup-
plied with men and ammunition as to be
nearly useless. "The fort is defenceless and
entirely out of order, and resembles (with sub-
mission) rather a molehill than a fort against
an enemy."

The colonists must now have bitterly re-
gretted the eight thousand guilders which, as
we learn from later records, proved the
actual cost of the fine new church, a sum
which might well have fitted out a stout de-
fence around the little colony. Feeling had
already begun to run high against Kieft and
his mismanagement ; but for the present no
one had any thought except for immediate
defence against the enemy. Fearing that their
appeal to the West India Company might
prove insufficient, the Eight Men ten days
later sent a still more pressing letter addressed
this time to the "Noble, High and Mighty
Lords, the Noble Lords, the States-General
of the United Netherlands Provinces." This
appeal sets forth that

"we poor inhabitants of New Netherland were here in the
spring pursued by these wild Heathen and barbarous Savages
with fire and sword. Daily in our houses and fields have
they cruelly murdered men and women, and with hatchets

Xettet of

tbe £fgbt

tSien

1643

252

fovt HmsterOam

S>esperate
ConMtion
of Coloa

nists

1643

and tomahawks struck little children dead in their parents'
arms, or before their doors, or carried them away into bond-
age. The houses and grain barracks are burnt with the
produce ; cattle of all description are slain and destroyed,
and such as remain must perish this approaching winter for
the want of fodder. Almost every place is abandoned. We,
wretched people, must skulk with wives and little ones that
still survive in poverty together in and around the fort at the
Manahates where we are not safe even for an hour ; whilst
the Indians daily threaten to overwhelm us with it. Very
little can be planted this autumn and much less in the spring ;
so that it will come to pass that all of us who will yet save
our lives must of necessity perish next year of hunger and
sorrow with our wives and children unless our God have
pity on us.

" We are all here, from the smallest to the greatest, de-
void of counsel and means, wholly powerless. The enemy
meets with scarce any resistance. The garrison consists of
but fifty to sixty soldiers unprovided with ammunition.
Fort Amsterdam, utterly defenceless, stands open to the
enemy day and night.

" The Company have few or no effects here (as the Di-
rector has informed us). Were it not for this, there would
have been still time to receive assistance fi^om the English at
the East ere all had gone to ruin ; and we wretched settlers,
whilst we must abandon all our substance are exceedingly
poor.

" These heathens are strong in might. They have formed
an alliance with seven other Nations, are well provided with
guns, powder and lead, which they purchased for beaver
from the private traders who have had for a long time free
range here ; the rest they take from our fellow-countrymen,
whom they murder. In fine, we experience the greatest
misery, which must astonish a Christian heart to see or to
hear."

The case of the settlers under the shadow

ifort Hm5terC)am

253

of the fort, and of the fugitives who crouched
within its feeble shelter, was pitiable indeed.
The wonder is that the fort and its garrison
survived at all ; but the colonists struggled on
under difficulties and discouragements, as
their countrymen have had a way of doing
the world over ; and, at last, in the summer
of 1645, a general peace was declared between
the colonists and the natives. After four years
of warfare, the settlers breathed again. Men
went out into the fields by day in quiet and
slept at night without dream of war-whoops
or fire-brands. The coming of peace, how-
ever, did not diminish the importance of the
fort. It still continued the cor cordmm of
New Netherland. The weightiest communi-
cations addressed to Their High Mightinesses,
the States-General, were dated from the fort
and here counsel was taken on things spirit-
ual and temporal, peaceful and warlike. Here,
too, punishments were meted out, and the
punishments of our ancestors were formidable
matters.

The Dutch archives contain accounts of
the discipline of a female, who was found
guilty of slandering the Reverend Everardus
Bogardus, Pastor of the church within the
fort. It was decreed that the "said female"
should be obliged to appear at the sound of
the bell before the Governor and Council in
the fort, and there solemnly to declare that

peace

S>ec(are&

1645

254

jfort amsterOam

Utfcft's

Discipline
ie38s46

she knew the dominie to be honest and pious,
and that she had "lied falsely." Sterner pun-
ishments awaited evil doers of the male sex.
Jan Hobbes, for theft, was put to the torture
and two soldiers found guilty of blasphemy
were condemned to ride the wooden horse,
an animal more awful than that within the
Trojan walls. It stood under the shadow of
the fort, and on its razor-back the criminal
was seated, with iron stirrups and leaden
weights attached to his unlucky legs.

Kieft, who in spite of his shortcomings was
a rigid disciplinarian, achieved order, where
anarchy had formerly reigned among the gar-
rison at the fort. He laid down a strict code
of laws and penalties, applying especially to
those on guard. This code reads :

" Section I : Whosoever abuses the name of God when
on guard shall pay a fine for the first offence of ten stivers ;
for the second, twenty stivers ; for the third, thirty stivers.

"Section II: He, who speaks scandal of a comrade
during the time he is on guard, shall pay thirty stivers.

" Section III : He, who arrives tipsy or intoxicated for
duty, shall pay twenty stivers.

"Section IV : He, who neglects to be present without
sufficient cause, fifty stivers.

" Lastly, He who, when the duty on guard is well per-
formed, and the sun is risen and reveille beat, fires a musket
without his corporal's orders, shall pay one guilder."

This code of military law was read aloud
by a corporal every time the soldiers went on
guard, that none might plead ignorance as an

ifort BmsterOam

255

excuse for failure in obedience. Besides this
reading of the code, the corporal's daily task
was the superintendence of the cleaning and
charging of muskets, the examination of
cartridge-boxes, and, most difficult of all, the
prevention of the smuggling of liquor into the
fort. The many records of drunken frays
among the soldiers bear witness that this part
of the corporal's duty was sometimes slighted,
or else that the soldiers had opportunities of
securing liquor when they were off duty.

"William the Testy," with his sharp gray
eyes and his round, red face was always on
the watch for offenders, and woe to the
laggard coming sleepily to his post after re-
veille had called to duty at daybreak, or to him
who loitered with his sweetheart by the shore
when tattoo had sounded at nine o'clock in
the evening !

About the time of the closing of the Indian
war, the colonists received a document from
the Assembly of the XIX. or Governing Board
of the West India Company containing
valuable advice, which like much good advice
came rather late. The letter recommended
that colonists should be compelled to settle near
each other in towns and villages in order to be
able to give mutual assistance in time of
danger ; and it further advised the repairing of
Fort Amsterdam, which was now in such a
state of utter ruin and collapse, that men went

letter
from
tmest
UnMa
Company
1645

256

ffort Hmster^am

IRepairs
to If ort

®l•^crc^

1645

in and out over the wall instead of through the
gate. This repairing was ordered to be done
with stone, and the expense was estimated at
a sum between twenty and twenty-five thou-
sand guilders. In addition to the masonry, the
earthworks were to be restored with "good
clay and firm sods " and the soldiers were to
be employed as laborers to reduce the cost.

A list of the officers, employees and garrison
to be engaged, together with their salaries is
annexed, and includes,

I Director,

3000 fl

I Clergyman,

1440 "

I Constable, (g

jnner)

240 "

I Schoolmaster

and Sexton,

360 "

I Provost,

180 "

I Corporal to i

ict as

Gunsmith,

180 "

I Commander,

720 "

I Ensign,

540 "

2 Sergeants,

600 "

2 Corporals,

432 "

1 Drummer,

156 "

4 Cadets,

720 "

40 Soldiers,

6240 "

I Surgeon,

300 "

I Skipper,

300 "

4 Sailors,

624 "

I Boy,

108 "

A florin was equivalent to about forty cents.
This number of florins therefore represented

jfort Bmster^am

257

less than half the same number of dollars, so
that the pay of a common soldier in the Fort
Amsterdam garrison was about fifty dollars
yearly, while the Director himself received
between twelve and fifteen hundred. Even
at these moderate wages, the West India
Company was losing money on its venture,
and its books show that the colony of New
Netherland had cost the Company more than
half a million guilders, over and above returns,
during the years from 1626 to 1644 inclusive.
As Kieft and his mismanagement were re-
sponsible for much of the loss it is not surpris-
ing that his recall was agreed upon by the
Assembly in old Amsterdam, greatly to the
delight of the settlers in New Amsterdam,
by whom he was thoroughly detested.

The newly appointed Director, Petrus
Stuyvesant, came over heralded by the fame
of his statesmanship and military powers.
He had been Governor of Curasao, and the loss
of his leg at the siege of St. Martins (then
occupied by the Portuguese) had established
his claim to doughty soldiership. Now, surely,
the seaport fortress of New Netherland might
look for better days. This old soldier would
see to it at once that its defences were put in
order and its guns made ready to belch de-
fiance at the foe.

No wonder that there was much rejoicing
throughout the little Dutch town on the point

"Rieft

Super6c^e^
1647

258

Ifort BmsterDam

StUBve-
sant's

Hrriral
1647

of Manhattan Island, on that May morning in
1647, when the news spread abroad that the
fleet bearing the new governor, Director Stuy-
vesant, his lady and their suite, had cast
anchor in the bay. The inhabitants in their
best attire thronged to the shore below the
fort, and the fort itself brave in banners
opened salute from all its great guns at once.
The four ships in the harbor responded with
similar salutes, and afterward Stuyvesant came
ashore amid much waving of flags and a
tumultuous greeting from the people.

This was a gala day long remembered,
but by no means the only one in the history
of the fort, which was the scene of most of
the merrymaking as well as most of the
solemn ceremonials of the colony. On Nieiiw
Jaar and Kerstydt (Christmas) the Governor's
house was ablaze with candles and the young
men and maidens danced in the "entry." On
Paas (Easter), the villagers collected in the
stone church at the summons of those Porto
Rico bells, whose chimes were rung by a
"klink" or bell-ringer,*^who lodged under the
belfry in the fort, and over the door of whose
chamber was carved a quaint inscription
dedicating "the holy cell" to the Son of
Peace.

Of all the festivals which were held in the
old fort none was gayer or more memorable
than that celebrated one day in February,

Ifort Bmster&ant

259

1653, when the village of New Amsterdam
became the City of New Amsterdam. On this
day, the city fathers marched to the kerck in
the fort in solemn procession, preceded by the
bell-ringer bearing cushions of state for the
pews of the dignitaries. At their head strode
Peter Stuyvesant the stout-hearted hero de-
scribed by Irving, with his regimental coat
decorated with brass buttons from chin to
waistband, the skirts turned up at the corners,
and separating at the back to display the
seat of a sumptuous pair of brimstone-color
breeches ; his hair standing out on each side
stiff with pomatum, his wooden leg set boldly
in advance, one hand firmly grasping his gold-
headed cane, the other holding the hilt of his
doughty sword. ■

All these festivals and merrymakings were
very pleasant, no doubt, and perhaps served
their purpose in easing the strained relations be-
tween the citizens of New Amsterdam and the
West India Company, with which they were
continually at odds ; but they did little toward
solving the problems of defence from hostile
attack which perpetually stared the settlers in
the face. The relations with the neighboring
settlers, the Swedes on one side and the Eng-
lish on the other, were so uncertain that in a
petition to the States-General, the first appli-
cation for a municipal charter, the burghers
humbly beseech Their High Mightinesses

mew Hms
Btertam

JSecomes
a Cits

less

26o

dfort Hmster^am

Character

of StuB=

veeant

"to be pleased to determine and so to establish and order
the Boundaries of this Province, that all causes of difference,
disunion, and trouble may be cut off and prevented ; that
Their High Mightinesses' subjects may live and dwell in
peace and quietness, and enjoy their liberty as well in trade
and commerce as in intercourse and settled limits. (2d.) That
Their High Mightinesses would be pleased to preserve us in
peace with the neighboring Republics, Colonies, and others.
Their High Mightinesses' allies."

This mild request to be kept in prosperity
and at peace with all the world in these troub-
lous times was far from being fulfilled. Not
only did the neighbors continue to snarl at each
others heels over questions of boundary, etc.,
but the Governor himself, to whose coming
the New Netherlanders had looked forward
with such delight, had grown wellnigh as
unpopular as his predecessor in the eyes of
the colonists. He early displayed the arbitra-
riness of his disposition, when in one of the
first contests with the burghers over some
injustice of Kieft's he exclaimed, "These
boorish brutes would hereafter endeavor to
knock me over also ; but 1 shall now manage
it so that they will have their bellies full in all
time to come."

On another occasion when Cornells Melyn
pleaded for grace till the result of his appeal
to the court over-seas could be heard, the
Director sternly replied, "Had I known,
Melyn, that you would have divulged our

jfort Hmster^am

261

Stus*
vesant's
Ubreat0

sentence, or brought it before Their High
Mightinesses, I should have had you hanged
forthwith on the highest tree in New Nether-
land."

The irascible old Governor afterward made
his censure still more general, and announced
that as it had come to his knowledge that
some people were thinking of appealing from
his judgments, he wished it understood that
should any one attempt such a piece of in-
subordination, " I would have him made a
foot shorter, pack the pieces off to Holland
and let him appeal in that way."

Director Stuyvesant did not know the men
with whom he had to deal, if he thought to
frighten them into subserviency. Adriaen van
der Donck and his fellows fought stubbornly
for their rights and privileges and especially
against unjust taxation. They declared they
would not be unequally taxed for the support
of the government and the strengthening of
defences, and refused the amounts demanded,
unless the Governor would supply a fair
amount from the revenues derived from ex-
cise, etc.

The result of all these petty bickerings was
of course most disastrously felt in the condi-
tion of the fort. Times continued hard, the
Company niggardly, the Governor tyrannical,
and the burghers recalcitrant. In March, 1653,
the Director sent the following appealing letter

262

Ifort HmsterDam

eant's %et=

tcr to

36urgos

master

an^

Scbcpens

1653

to the burgomasters and schepens of the little
town :

" Honorable, Dear and Distinguished [Friends]:
" We see with great grief the damages done to the walls
of the fort by hogs, especially now again in the spring, when
the grass comes out. We made an order concerning it last
year at the request of the Select Men, who promised properly
to fence in the fort and to keep the hogs meanwhile from
the walls. But seeing, after the lapse of a year, that nothing
or at least only little has been done and that what has been
done at the fort has again been destroyed by the pigs, as
may daily be learned, we are compelled to enter a protest
about the non-fulfilment of the promise, being told that the
failure of it, the destruction of the walls and all our works,
is caused by the Select Men having been superseded and
their authority and duties transferred to Burgomasters and
Schepens, who had accepted to do the work. How this is,
we do not know, but we see, to our trouble and shame, the
pigs daily on the walls, busy with their destruction. There-
fore we request Burgomasters and Schepens to give an order
in accordance with the beforementioned promise and pre-
vent the pigs. Else we shall be compelled to carry out our
former order. Relying thereon we remain. Honorable, Dear,
' Distinguished [Friends],

'* Your well-meaning friend,

" P. Stuyvesant."

" The Burgomasters and Schepens decided, upon the letter
of the Director-General, provisionally to engage a herdsman
and in the meantime to make the fence as quickly as pos-
sible, the Director-General having promised to furnish the
posts. Done, etc., this^ist of March, 1653.

(Signed) " Arent van Hattem,

WiLH. Beeckman,
Allard Antoky."

3fort BmsterDam

263

It would appear that the herdsman did not
understand his business very well, or else that
there were more hogs than people in New
Amsterdam, for the records five months later
harp on the same old complaint from the
Governor :

Damage

tbe iFort

1653

" Respected and Very Dear:

"We cannot, consistently with duty, omit calling your
Worships' attention to the injurious and intolerable destruc-
tion, which we, to our great dissatisfaction, daily behold
the hogs committing on the newly finished works of the
fort, whence the ruin thereof will certainly ensue.

" And whereas Burgomasters and Schepens, in violation
of their solemn promises made both in writing and orally,
will not lend a hand to repairing and strengthening the
same, we can certainly expect they will adopt measures and
take care, that what we with great pains and labor have
brought so far will not again be destroyed by hogs, and
thus all our labor be rendered useless, it being certainly the
practice in no place to permit cattle to run at large to the
injury and damage both of individuals and the public.
Without more remonstrance then, in case this matter is not
speedily and promptly attended to by your Worships, we
hereby protest, that necessity compels us to provide therein
by the following Ordinance and Placard, whereof we by
these presents, do first notify the Burgomasters and Schepens,
and clear ourselves of all damage and injury that may follow
therefrom. Done at Fort Amsterdam in New Netherland
the 1 2th August, 1653.

(Signed) " P. Stuyvesant."

" City Hall, Tuesday, the 12 August, 1653, 4 o'clock in
the afternoon. Present. — Arent Van Hattem, Marten
Krigier, Poulus Leendersen, and M. Van Gheel.

264

3fort HmsterDam

tibectinQ of

Scbepen0

1653

" Having taken into consideration the foregoing Remon-
strance of tile Honble General, the same is postponed until
the arrival of the other Schepens, who are absent.

" Wednesday afternoon Burgomasters and Schepens again
met except Pieter Couwenhoven. Adjourned to 8 o'clock
to-morrow.

" Burgomasters and Schepens of this City New Amster-
dam assembled together.

" Having seen the R&monstrance of the Honble General
and his complaint concerning the damage the hogs are
daily doing to the fort and the newly erected works, the
Burgomasters and Schepens do therefore order their Court
messenger to notify the Burghers that every one of them
shall take care of his hogs or keep them in the sty until the
fort and recently constructed works have been fenced in
with palisades to preserve said works from damage, or in
default thereof, such persons shall be held responsible for the
damage and injury. Thus done and enacted this 14 August
A° 165'?, New Amsterdam. (Signed) Arent Van Hattem,
1653, Martin Krigier, Pouls L. Van die Grift, Wilh: Beeck-
man, Pieter Wolfersen, Maximilianus Van Gheel."

The flurry of the threatened English invasion
in 1653 brought about some improvement in
the condition of the fort, as well as in the de-
fences to the northward along the Singel : but
the zeal for fortifying died out with the alarm
and was finally buried when on July 18, 1654,
amid much bell-ringing and public rejoicing, a
proclamation was affixed to the wall of the
Stadt-Huys announcing that a compact of
" Peace, Union, and Confederation " had been
made and concluded at Westminster between
the commissioners of the Lord Protector and
the ambassadors of the Lords States-General.

jfort Hm6terC)am

265

For ten years longer the old fort mouldered
peacefully away, as tranquil in its decay as
though it had received a certified discharge
from active duty. But at length, in the early
summer of 1664, startling rumors began to fly
about of a threatened invasion, which might
drive the hogs off the earthworks once more
and set the rusty guns to a trial of their
strength. Stuyvesant's troublous rule, after
a duration of seventeen years, was about to
be brought to a violent, if not untimely end
at last. Shortly after the Restoration of
Charles II., that monarch by a royal charter
("the most despotic instrument recorded in
the colonial archives of England ") conveyed
to his brother, the Duke of York, a vast tract
of American land, including on the east the
country between the Saint Croix and the
Pemaquid, and on the west the tract between
the Connecticut and the Delaware rivers with
all adjacent islands, thus completely oblit-
erating the Dutch ownership of New Nether-
land.

Without warning to the Dutch of ap-
proaching hostilities the Duke despatched four
vessels, the Guinea, the Elias, the Martin,
and the William and Nicholas. These ships
bore five hundred soldiers and had also on
board Richard Nicolls, who was to be Deputy-
Governor of the conquered province, Sir
George Cartwright, Robert Carr and Samuel

IRumors

of TKOiac

1664

266

jfort Bmster^am

Snglieb

Jflect Sent

to IRcw

•ffletbcrs

Ian^

1664

Maverick. These commissioners were ordered
to take possession of New Netherland and es-
tablish an English settlement to be known as
New York. Rumors of the proposed on-
slaught reached New Netherland from Boston,
where the English squadron had put in for
further reinforcement ; but the suddenness of
the attack gave little time for preparation of
defence, and the Governor himself came flying
back post haste from Fort Orange,' whither he
had been called by some disturbance among
the Indians.

On the 28th of August, 1664, the English
fleet came to an anchor in Gravesend Bay,
and the garrison at Fort Amsterdam knew
that the struggle was at hand and that sure
defeat awaited them. Stuyvesant's position
was a most difficult one. The inhabitants of
the town had no spirit for resistance, the fort
was in no state of readiness for a siege, the
hostile vessels were already preparing to open
fire ; but still he strove to parley. On Sep-
tember 3d, a deputation was sent to Nicolls,
the English commander, but he refused dis-
cussion.

"When may we visit you again?" the
deputation asked.

"On Thursday," answered Nicolls, "for
to-morrow I will speak with you at Manhat-
tan."

* Albany.

jfort HmsterOam

267

"Friends are welcome there," answered
the Dutchman diplomatically.

"Raise the white flag of peace," answered
Nicolls, "for I shall come with ships of war
and soldiers."

While these negotiations were proceeding
the burghers of New Amsterdam were con-
stantly sending remonstrances to Stuyvesant
and his advisers demanding a surrender.
These remonstrances set forth the weakness
of their situation :

"We shall now examine," they said, "your Honors'
fortress. You know in your own consciences that it is in-
capable of making head against so powerful an enemy.
Granting even that it could hold out against its assailant,
one, two, three, five, or six months (which to our sorrow it
cannot) it is still undeniable that it cannot save the smallest
portion of our entire city, our property, and, what is dearer
to us, our wives and children from total ruin ; for after con-
siderable bloodshed even the fort itself could not be preserved.
Wherefore, to prevent and arrest all the aforesaid misfortune,
we humbly and in bitterness of heart, implore your Honors
not to reject the conditions of so generous a foe, but to be
pleased to meet him in the speediest, best, and most repu-
table manner."

Stuyvesant himself, in the letter which he
afterwards sent home to the West India Com-
pany excusing his surrender, enlarged still
further upon the hopelessness of defence.

" The fort," he wrote, " is situated in an untenable place
where it was located on the first discovery of New Nether-
land for the purpose of resisting any attack of barbarians
rather than an assault of European arms. Having within

me^otias

tiona witb

-nicolls

166*

268

jfort amstert)am

Condition
of tbe
Jfort
166*

pistol-shot on north and northeasterly sides higher ground
than that on which it stands, so that, notwithstanding the
walls and works are raised the highest on that side, people
standing and walking on that high ground can see the soles
of the feet of those on the esplanade and bastions of the fort,
where the view is not obstructed by the houses and church
in it, and by the gabions on the wall.

" Secondly, the fort was and is encompassed only by a
slight wall, two or three feet thick backed by coarse gravel,
not above eight, nine, or ten feet high in some places, in
others higher according to the fall of the ground.

" Thirdly, it is for the most part crowded all round-about
with buildings better adapted for a cidatel than for defence
against an open enemy. The houses are in many places
higher than the wall and bastions, and render these wholly
exposed. Most of the houses also have cellars not eight rods
distant from the walls of the fort ; in some places, not two
or three, and at one point scarce a rod from the wall, so that
whoever is master of the city can readily approach with
scaling ladders from the aforesaid houses the walls of the fort,
which is unprovided with either wet or dry ditch ; and also
if need be run a mine from the so close adjoining cellars and
blow the place up. Besides this, the fort was and is without
either well or cistern."

The struggle was clearly hopeless and at
last the old hero consented to the surrender.
By the articles of capitulation Stuyvesant and
his comrades were permitted to march out
carrying arms, with drums beating, colors
flying and matches lighted. On the vlag-spU
in the corner of the fort, the English banner
was raised, the name of the fort changed to
Fort James and the bloodless victory accom-
plished.

3f ort amstetC)am

269

The treaty of Breda, signed in July, 1667,
confirmed England's possession of New Am-
sterdam. For nine years English rule pre-
vailed in the colony, and English officers
sunned their red coats on the bastions of the
fort ; but, before yielding the supremacy, the
Dutch made one more gallant struggle crowned
by temporary success. In the spring of 1673,
Holland and England being then again at war,
the States-General despatched a fleet of five
vessels under command of Commodores Cor-
nelis Evertsen, Jr. and Jacob Benckes, Captains
Antonio Colve, Nicholaes Boes and Abram
Van Zyll. At the end of July, this fleet ap-
peared in the bay, and their commander sent
an abrupt summons to Deputy-Governor
Manning, then in control of the fort, calling
for immediate surrender. Manning, who was
in control in the absence of Governor Love-
lace, the successor of Nicolls, strove to delay
the issue by parley, but the Dutch would not
be put off, and really in the condition of the
fort, which was as usual in a chronic state of
disrepair, platforms and gun-carriages out of
order, only four gun-sponges and but seventy
or eighty gunners with neither spade nor
handspike nor other implement of defence, it
is hard to see what course but surrender was
open to him, unless he was willing to see
all the thatched roofs of the town go up in
flame as soon as the enemy opened fire. The

UteatB of
£re^a
1667

270

jfort Hmster&am

Httacf! of

tbc Sutcb

1673

surrender, however, was bitterly resented by
the authorities in England, and a series of
charges was brought against "John Man-
ning, Commander-in-Chiefe of James Forte."
These charges set forth that on or about the
28th day of July, 1673, " he having notice of
an enemy's fleet coming into the bay," did
not endeavor as he might to put the garrison
into a state of defence. That on the 30th
of July "he suffered the said enemyes with
their Fleet to come and moare their ships
under the fort." That he permitted boats to
come ashore " loaden with men," and, worst
of all, "that Hee strooke his Majestie's Flag
before the ennemy that had landed, were in
sight of the fort." There was so much swear-
ing and counter-swearing in the course of this
trial that it is difficult now, after the lapse of
more than two centuries, to form any judg-
ment of the rights of the controversy ; but it
is evident that poor Manning made a con-
venient scapegoat and, though he prayed on
"the bended knees of his harte " that his ex-
cuses might be "pondred," he was found
guilty of cowardice, and his sword broken
over his head in symbol of his disqualification
for office.

But the punishment of Manning did not help
the British to recover New Amsterdam. The
fort was taken, and though Manning strove to
make terms stipulating that "all officers and

ifort Hmster^am 271

souldiers of ffort James should march out with nutcb
amies, Drumes beating, cullers flying, Bagg ^^anT
and Baggage without Hindrance or Molesta- ie73
con," yet the agreement was not kept ; for
Manning declared bitterly afterward that Col.
Calvert " ingaged, his hand on his Brest,"
that upon "ye word and Honor of a Gentle-
man, they should be Puncktually P'formed ;
but p'fidiously breaking his faith and his
word."

The Dutch were triumphant. On the sur-
render of Manning, the commander of the Dutch
fleet took possession of the town and the fort.
Down came the English flag once more, and
up went the ensign of Holland. The name
of New York was changed to New Orange,
and Fort James became Fort " Willem Hen-
rik." Antony Colve, one of the commanders
of the fleet, was made Governor of the colony
and commander-in-chief at the fort.

During his rule the town was practically
under martial law. At sunset each night, the
guard at the fort, called the hoofd wagt, de-
livered over the keys of the city to the Mayor,
who proceeded to lock the gates and place the
burger wagt, or citizen guard, on night watch.
In the morning at sunrise this guard was re-
lieved, and the Mayor again made the rounds
of the city, unlocking gates.' Mrs. Sigourney,

' Instructions to Jacobus Van Der Water, as Mayor of New
Orange, done at Fort Willem Henrik 1 2 January, 1 674. " The

272

ifort Hmster&am

jfort
James
1674

in a poem commemorating this time and cus-
tom, writes:

" Hail mighty city! — high must be his fame
Who round thy bounds at sunrise now should walk.
Still art thou lovely what so e'er thy name,
New Amsterdam, New Orange or New York."

The condition of the fort at the end of the
second Dutch occupation was described by a
traveller who visited it soon after it had passed
into English hands. He says :

" It is not large. It has four points or batteries. It has
no moat outside, but is enclosed with a double row of
palisades. It is built on the foundation with quarry stone.
The parapet is of earth. It is well provided with cannon
for the most part of iron, though there were some small brass
pieces all bearing the mark or arms of the Netherlanders.
The garrison is small. There is a well of fine water dug in
the fort by the English, contrary to the opinion of the
Dutch, who supposed the fort was built upon rock, and
had therefore never attempted any such thing. There is in-
deed some indication of stone there, for along the edge of
the water below the fort there is a very large rock extend-
ing apparently under the fort. It has only one gate, and

Mayor shall take good care that in the morning the gates
are opened at sunrise and locked again in the evening
with sunset, for which purpose he shall go to the principal
guard and there address himself to the commanding officer
and demand to conduct him thither at least a sergeant with
six soldiers all armed with guns. With these he shall pro-
ceed to the fort to fetch the keys and return these again
there as soon as the gates are opened or shut."

3fort Hmstert)ant

273

that is on the land side, opening upon a broad plane or
street called the Broadway or Beaverway. Over this gate
are the arms of the Duke of York. During the time of the
Dutch there were two gates, another on the water side; but
the English have closed it and made a battery there."

In 1674, New Orange was returned by
treaty to the British and resumed permanently
its title of New York. The fort also resumed
its name of Fort James, but only for a short
time ; since on the accession of William and
Mary it was rechristened in honor of the king,
and finally, when Anne, who married Prince
George of Denmark, ascended the throne, it
received the name of Fort George, and under
that title it continued until its final demolition
at the close of the Revolutionary War.

From beginning to end of its long life, this
strange fortress continued a picturesque cum-
berer of the ground, useless in war, worse
than useless in peace ; and when at last it
succumbed before the march of commerce
there were few to regret its fall.

Dew

(Grange
again bcs

comee
mew ISort;

1674

The authorities for this paper are drawn
chiefly from the Documents Relating to the
Colonial History of the State of New York,
the Documentary History of New York,
O'Callaghan's History of New Netherland, the
accounts of their travels, written by Captain

2 74 ifort BmstertJam

De Vries, Father Jogues and others, and
the early City Records, now in process of
translation from the Dutch, which by the
courtesy of the translator, Mr. Berthold
Fernow, I have been enabled to see in proof

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J€^r.-12 19U1

tcoxA 'iit ^ 4f ^

is a twenty-page monthly published by the
Hampton Institute in Virginia in the interest
of the two races it represents — the Negro and
the Indian.

It is a record of the practical working out of
the race problems, not only at Hampton but at
Tuskegee and other schools, and contains much
interesting matter from graduates in the field
and from prominent students and writers
representing the best thought of the country.

A few pages are devoted each month to the
local affairs of the School, to letters from
Negroes and Indians in the South and West,
to folk-lore, and to reviews of books bearing
upon race problems.

Subscription, $i.oo a year. This may be
sent to

Rev. H. B. FRISSELL,

Hampton, Va.

The City History Club
of New Yorl^

The City History Club aims to awaken a general
interest in the history and traditions of New York,
believing that such interest is one of the surest
guarantees of civic improvement. Its work is car-
ried on through three channels :

I. — A Normal Class
3. — Popular Classes
3. — Public Lectures

For further information, conditions of member-
ship, etc., address

Secretary City History Club,

11 West 50th Street,
New York.

LIBRfiRY OF CONGRESS

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THE/ HALF-MOON SERIES

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

" The scheme is an admirable one and should receive the
hearty support of all who are dwellers in this great city." —
The Examiner, N. Y.

"It is a pity that every large community and every historical
neighborhood cannot have such a series of authentic texts
covering local history." — Illustrated Buffalo Express.

" The enterprise is a most laudable one and the papers are
anticipated with a great deal of interest." — Nejv York Home
Journal.

"A unique series of papers on historic New York." — Edu-
cational Review.

"We have received the first of the Half-Moon papers.
. . . . It is on ' The Stadt-Huys of New Amsterdam,'
by Alice Morse Earle, and if all the succeeding papers are as
good the public will be well satisfied." — New York Tribune.

" If all the numbers of the Half-Moon Series are as inter-
esting as -the sketch of ' King's College,' it is bound to be
successful as a literary venture and will be potent in furthering
the cause which it seeks to advance." — Brooklyn Eagle.

" If every person in the United States who imagines that he
is an heir to the Anneke Jans-Bogardus estate would invest a
nickel in the third number of the Half-Moon series of
historical booklets published by Putnam's Sons, it would not
only settle that question of inheritance at once and forever,
but it would insure an enormous circulation to one of the
most valuable of historical studies of early life on Manhattan
Island. Ruth Putnam has made a book quite as interesting
to the general public as to the descendants of the fecund
Anneke Jans." — Ne'cu York World.

" How Wall Street began its career in the shelter of Peter
Stuyvesant's barricade ; how it was surveyed and curbed and
diminished in its breadth by greedy land owners ; how it
came to be a dwelling street, and a political street, and a
financial street ; . . . how it was dignified by the meet-
ing of Congress and the inauguration of Washington — all
these matters are reviewed in Mr. Villard's pamphlet, as well
as many others that may interest the curious reader just as
much." — New York Sun.

" Mrs. Bellamy's History of Govej-nor' s Island is evidently
compiled with care, is brightly written, and is a pamphlet of
genuine value to the historical student." — Buffalo Express,

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